LIFE AND DEATH OF CUBAN DRUMMER ‘Chano’ POZO.
Chano Pozo was a revolutionary among jazz drummers, his influence was direct, immediate, electric.
Luciano Pozo González, better known as Chano Pozo (January 7, 1915 in Havana – December 3, 1948 in New York City) was an Afro-Cuban jazz percussionist, singer, dancer and composer who played a major role in the founding of Latin jazz. better known as Chano Pozo, was the brother of trumpeter Felix Chappotín. Since childhood he lived the racial discrimination in Cuba. He cleaned shoes and sold newspapers, played music in many places and even danced in Havana troupe known as “The Dandy”.
In 1942 up to the U.S., leaving the Machito Orchestra, Chicago to join the set of “Jack Cole Dancers”. “Manteca” became known in the jazz world in 1947, during the presentation of a big band in the name of Pozo and Gillespie. At that concert pianist John Lewis intervened and drummer Kenny Clarke. In “Hot”, another of the great compositions of Chano Pozo, Chano style gradually led to Gillespie running musical ever greater risks, which resulted in a perfect fusion: the genius of the harmony of Jazz with a genius of Afro-Cuban rhythms.
THE CRIME.
Never made clear the cause of death. ¿Debt? Drugs? ¿Religious issues? Machismo ¿? Anyway, Eusebio Munoz, an individual who was nicknamed “the Corporal”, broke his heart in Harlem. In 1948, the eve of Santa Barbara, his guardian angel.
http://youtu.be/ZPG-CeFKhs4
CAUSE OF THE CRIME.
-He was killed by a fight between men Miguelito Valdes said and shrugged his shoulders and made a dismissive gesture with his hand. He looked gray where the coffin was Chano seemed still dreamed entry through the front door in the American art world. He concluded: Why find out?
No matter how it happened Chano Pozo will always be remembered as one of the best exponents of Afro-Cuban jazz of all times.
Wiki/CiroBianchiRoss/ChanoLife/InternetPhotos/ YouTube/ TheCubanHistory.com
The Cuban History, Hollywood.
Arnoldo Varona, Editor.